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Forum Discussion
Michele A.
11 years agoNew member | Level 1
Dropbox full because of shared folder
Hi, i have a dropbox account and the free space that i have is full because of the files inside the shared folder that i have with some friends.
Is there a way to avoid that the shared folder that uses the free space of my account without cancelling those folder?
Because i have no more space and i haven't uploaded any files
Excuse me for my english but i found problem on trying to traduce this message from my language
Your English is very good Michele - well done!
And no, if you need read write access to that folder if will use your quota. If you just need read only access leave the share and ask the other person sends you a read only Shared link.
You can LEAVE and REJOIN a shared folder when ever you like.
So one method of getting space is to LEAVE the shared folder. And REJOIN it when you need it.
If you ONLY need some files from the shared folder and ONLY at some times, I would additionally ask the owner of the shared folder for a LINK to it, in that way you can use the link to it and download via web the files you need when you need them.
Although I don't agree with Dropbox, and this is the primary reason I won't spring for Pro, I understand why they did this.
It's simple, really. Say, someone creates 10 free accounts. 10 x 2GB = 20GB. Now, that person, from each account shares a folder with his main account. That person just got more, free, space.[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Ask a Question section here.]
132 Replies
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- Kazi R.10 years agoNew member | Level 1
Hi,
I am with dropbox business. I shared a folder with our remote team. How to I increase storage capacity of that folder ? Dropbox gave default 2GB for that shared folder. I want to give 500 GB for that.
Thanks
Kazi
- DaveC210 years agoNew member | Level 1
Kazi R. : Db do NOT supply space per shared folder at all.
It sounds like you have shared a folder with a FREE (3GB) account.
Each account sharing access to a folder, must have enough room to store the content of the folder into their own dropbox, Dropbox work on how much content you have, not where it came from.
- Andrew R.3410 years agoNew member | Level 1
It simply makes no sense that a folder someone shares with you counts towards your quota. It's their folder, their quota. Defeats the purpose of shared folders. Still, I have 45 GB of free storage on OneDrive. I'll just get my mates who shared their folder with me to go to OneDrive too. OneDrive isn't retarded like DB with the way their shared folders work.
- Mark10 years ago
Super User II
It simply makes no sense that a folder someone shares with you counts towards your quota
It does. Its perfectly sensible. It is to stop people stacking accounts and because every single device costs money. Dropbox doesn't just pay for MB of storage but every time your device connects to and from its servers. So more shares = more cost.
- Timothy D.510 years agoNew member | Level 1
Lol *sigh*
+1 for Adam
-1 for Dave
- Timothy D.510 years agoNew member | Level 1
I'm screwed. Never even used any of these folders.

- Adam C.3610 years agoNew member | Level 2
@Mark Mc
But this is not how they charge for the service - DB charges by space, not by access or downloads. I can also share a link to a file or folder (from a free account) to give people access, who don't even need a DB account to download the files- no bandwidth or access charges for them!
So, to repeat what @Andrew R said, 'it simply makes no sense' to charge this way, and it places really quite severe limits on what would otherwise be a useful service.
I only keep free 5.25GB account for when people want to share stuff with me on DropBox (unfortunately, too often!). I have to constantly decide which shares to remove in order to let me save files and update files. This need to manage who has shared their space with me sometimes leads to to remove shared folders before I'm really done with them, and then ask for a new share when I come back to that project. It just sucks.
- David N.3210 years agoNew member | Level 1
I'll chime in here. Just ran into the quota brick wall myself from other folks shared folders. I guess it has forced me to understand more of how dropbox works. I have removed all the shares, but I guess I will not be able to contribute to any shares that are individually over my quota. Pretty wacko and makes dropbox fairly unusable.
They charge by space - but charge hundreds of time for the same space. Not bad for them if they can get away with it.
- Mark10 years ago
Super User II
Adam - then pay for an upgrade or use a different service. Dropbox are quite within their rights to restrict the service however they like to free users.
I'll use an analogy Ive used before... cars. A Dacia and a Porsche do exactly the same thing. Yet one charges for 'simple' features like electric windows and central locking. One is also 10x the price. Nobody tells Porsche they should reduce the prices as they can buy exactly the same for less.
- Ben L.2610 years agoNew member | Level 2
Mark:
Dacia doesn't pull a bait-and-switch in their fine print outlining that yes, the car has power steering and an FM radio, but they designed a custom electrical system that more efficiently uses energy, and as a result you can't use the power steering while the radio is on. Sure, the documentation is available if you look for it, and the sales person likely has knowledge of the limitation, but if you hop online to various car enthusiast forums you'd find threads started by owners just finding out about the limitation after nearly crashing on the road because they wanted some music. You'd also find Porsche owners pointing those who complain right to the documentation and telling them to RTFM, and others still that tell them to get a different car if they're not happy with the one they have.
No one is saying Dropbox isn't within their legal right to act this way. We're saying it's a really sleazy thing to do, limiting what is perceived to be a conceptually simple feature in some non-intuitive way without being upfront about it.
Also, this doesn't just affect free users; a Dropbox Pro user would run into this issue as well with enough data.
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